Batman and Robin Vol 1 3

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"Batman Reborn, Part Three: Mommy Made of Nails": Dick Grayson comes to a horrifying revelation. Professor Pyg's brain-washed Dollotron hordes are packing something far more menacing than just the bombs strapped to their chest. But the horrific caricatures of

Dick Grayson comes to a horrifying revelation. Professor Pyg's brain-washed Dollotron hordes are packing something far more menacing than just the bombs strapped to their chest. But the horrific caricatures of Pyg's "perfection" are themselves incubating a terrible cocktail of identity destroying germs! Pyg, real name Lazlo Valentin, has developed a new form of narcotic that threatens the existence of everyone in Gotham. A powerful mind-wiping aerosol drug that spreads its addiction like a viral infection making the entire city Valentin’s for the taking.

More than ever Gotham City needs a Batman. And, Dick realizes, he is that Batman. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to stop Pyg. Even if it means dragging Phosphorus Rex's face inches above the pavement as he speeds into oncoming traffic aboard the Bat-Quad!

Miles away at the run-down amusement park, Damian Wayne is regaining consciousness and finding himself in the company of the one and only Professor Pyg. Wearing a pink pig mask over his face, the portly and sweaty mess of an "artist" begins to display just how far he's gone off his medication. Lazlo, a one-time leader of an extreme circus troupe, puts on a true artist's performance for the young lad revealing little pieces of his shattered psyche in the process.

He dances frantically in front of a sort of barbed wire effigy of his mother. Barbed wire and nails jut out at every angle from the tee-pee like structure. A sad and chipped female mask sits atop the structure surrounded by dead roses, like a cracked and deeply disturbed angel above a very sick Christmas tree from hell. The empty eye sockets look out over Pyg's dance, saying nothing. Yet somehow Pyg can sense the disappointment. A "mommy made of nails" where "every hug is a crucifixion."

He tears open his shirt, breathlessly chanting about goddesses of chaos while contorting his body in tune with the dance music he both adores and hates. Throughout the neurotic dance session, one can sense some very serious undertones of a severe oedipal complex. Finally, out of breath and exhausted from his display, he mutters to himself, “I want to be sick. I want to operate. I want to be sick in front of everyone.” And it becomes clear that he's ready to begin his work.

The soulless Dollotrons close in on Damian with the molten doll mask ready to affix itself on his skull, but the young boy is far more industrious than he appears. Undoing his restraints, he leaps up and takes down the Dollotrons and Pyg one by one. His attentions immediately go to Sasha, the young girl who is just now waking up to find that her once beautiful face has been horribly and permanently disfigured by Pyg. She cries out for Robin's help in escaping as she lashes out at Pyg, igniting his bare chest on fire! Sasha reaches out for help while Pyg runs the other way. Damian is left with only one choice - follow Pyg! As he jumps into the escaping fun-house cart, his hand reaches out for Sasha's but the two never meet. Pyg pulls Damian back into the out of control cart and as the cart dips out of sight he can only see her at the bottom of a dog-pile of Dollotrons.

The cart crashes outside where Batman has arrived and is waiting to deliver the patented double-punch to Pyg's jaw, shattering his porcelain mask and sending him reeling. Damian looks to his left to find that Dick is offering him back his Robin 'R' patch. The boy, appearing genuinely grateful for having his life saved, accepts.

In an attempt to salvage whatever he could of Pyg’s lab from the fire inside the funhouse, Dick comes across a conveniently labeled “cure” for Pig’s viral concoction. But it’s what is lying next to the vial that has him truly puzzled. It's a 12-11 domino. And it occurs to him then that the domino found next to Toad's corpse was a 12-12. Could someone be counting down? And to what?

Meanwhile Gordon, who is none to happy to have returned to the evil park, is there to help clean up the mess. But the horror is just beginning. Despite their best efforts, doctors are unable to peel the facemasks off without removing the skin from the skull of the patient. Complicating matters further, Sasha breaks out of her medical restraints and begins murdering the other Dollotrons one by one, including her own father! Police go to apprehend her but they’re forever silenced by two loud gunshots, their faces obliterated instantly. Standing in the hospital hallway, a smoking red gun still in his hand is none other than the Red Hood. “You need a friend, right? And me, I’m looking for a partner to help me wipe the vomit off the face of Gotham once and for all.”

Oblivious to the potentially diabolical new partnership that has just spawned at the hospital, Dick and Damian are following up on other matters. It's been six months since the Danse Macabre of the Black Glove. But they've finally got a lock on Le Bossu, the hunchbacked Black Glove henchman. His disfigured face twists in fear as the Bat-Signal lights up his haunt of horrors. Just like one of the poor victims of Professor Pyg’s toxin, the city of Gotham had once lost it’s identity, it’s purpose. But now the Dynamic Duo are back. And it's true, Batman and Robin will never die! But they might just have some new competition in the battle for the soul of Gotham City!

Notes

Batman and Robin are seen attacking Le Bossu at the end of this issue. This is referencing a flash-forward seen at the conclusion to Batman R.I.P. taking place six months after that storyline.[1]

Trivia

It is repeatedly made clear that the carnival used by Professor Pyg is one earlier used by the Joker to torment James Gordon. Gordon suggests it should be burned down, and they even fight Dollotrons on the Ghost Train he was forced to ride.[2]